Light, airy and perfect vegan meringue cookies. Cute and fun and made with chickpea aquafaba resulting in totally perfect meringue!
I was daunted by the idea of vegan meringue for a long time and now I don’t know why.
Honestly, making these was incredibly easy!
If you are new to the idea of aquafaba, let me tell you about it. A few years back some geniuses discovered that the water (brine) from a can of chickpeas acted pretty much exactly like egg whites when whipped.
Basically the proteins from the beans leaches out into the water and makes that water very similar to egg whites in how it behaves. So you can use that water for all sorts of egg-like things!
I have actually used aquafaba before, very successfully, when I made my vegan mousse.
So goodness knows why I was daunted by the idea of vegan meringue, but somehow I just was.
But these came out so beautifully. So now you know I am definitely thinking about some vegan lemon meringue and vegan pavlova.
I researched a lot of recipes and methods, and tried a few different things and this recipe is exactly what worked best for me.
I also found some good troubleshooting tips for making vegan meringue that were very helpful from the Lazy Vegan Baker.
How To Make Vegan Meringue
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
To make these you just take some of the water from a can of chickpeas, and place it in your electric mixer with some cream of tartar.
You start off slow to get it nice and foamy.
Then you speed it up and as you can see things start to get very creamy and glossy!
You add your sugar and vanilla slowly as it whips and let it go until you have nice and glossy stiff peaks.
Pipe it out onto a parchment lined tray, as you can see I had a bit of trouble with my uniformity, some are quite a bit bigger than others!
Then you bake at 250°F (121°C) for 45 minutes and then you switch OFF the oven BUT don’t open it for another hour. This is really crucial. You leave the oven closed for an hour after it finishes baking, without opening it!
Ingredient Notes
Aquafaba (chickpea water) – this recipe uses 6 tablespoons of aquafaba, the liquid left behind from a can of chickpeas. This is roughly half of what you would get from one 15-ounce (425g) can of chickpeas. You can throw the rest out or use it in other recipes requiring aquafaba.
Cream of tartar – this really works for stabilization and it’s exactly like you would use if you were whipping egg whites.
Granulated sugar – works best for this as it provides the structure for the meringues.
Does It Taste Like Proper Meringue?
The end result of this recipe is the most perfect meringues ever. Absolutely perfect! Really, the perfect texture and perfect taste.
Now this is the curious part – if you taste the meringue mix before it goes into the oven, you can taste the chickpea water, the chickpea flavor is there.
So you might be sceptical at this stage, but have faith because once baked, all traces of chickpea flavor vanishes.
All that you are left with is perfect sweet airy light crispy meringue.
How To Store Your Meringues
Store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 5 days. If it’s even vaguely hot or humid where you are, put them in the fridge pronto.
We are currently having high humidity and within a very short time (like 15 minutes) these were starting to get sticky and wanting to collapse.
We put them in the fridge and they went back to perfect in seconds. So just beware of that. Hot and humid weather leads to sticky meringue collapse. So airtight container in the fridge and they will stay perfect for snacks for around 5 days.
More Gorgeous Vegan Desserts
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan White Chocolate
- Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Cashew Ice Cream
- Vegan Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Energy Balls
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Meringue
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons Aquafaba liquid from a can of chickpeas*
- ¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Place the chickpea liquid (aquafaba) and cream of tartar into the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Start at slow speed and whip until foamy.
- Then gradually increase speed until white and glossy and stiff peaks start to form.
- Add the sugar in slowly while whipping at fast speed.
- Add in the vanilla.
- Keep whipping until glossy stiff peaks form.
- Preheat your oven to 250°F (121°C).
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Pipe the meringue mix into cookie shapes onto the parchment lined tray. Alternatively you can spoon it out, but I found piping to be much easier.
- Place into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, switch off the oven but DON’T OPEN IT (excuse the caps, but this part is very important). Leave the oven off, but don’t open it for one hour. Time it.
- After the meringues have baked for 45 minutes and then sat in the oven for a further 60 minutes without opening the oven, remove them from the oven.
- They should be airy crispy perfection! If the weather is at all hot or humid, put them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for the most long lasting results.
Video
Notes
- This amount of chickpea liquid is roughly half of what you’ll get from one 15 ounce (425g) can of chickpeas when drained. You can throw out the rest or use it for other egg replacement purposes or for another batch of vegan meringue.
- Keep the meringues stored in a covered container in the fridge for 5 days.
- Recipe adapted from A Little Insanity.
Jacqui Kruzewski says
This is a great recipe! I made Madryt Jaffrey’s Very Spicy Delicious Chickpeas (highly recommended- a staple in our family for over 30 years) and as it takes two tins of chickpeas I had a lot of aqua faba.
I made the vanilla flavour first, but piped them larger than you did. I also have a fan oven so baked at 100 degC. I followed your cooking times- the smaller ones were ok but the larger ones were chewy in the middle (which is a good result if you like them that way – I do but wanted perfection!) so I put them back in for about 45 minutes and let them cool for an hour again. Superb!
Next day I varied the recipe by using orange essence and orange food colour paste. The essence contains a bit of oil, but this was experiment time. I got the coloured meringue very stiff then added the essence a bit at a time and then whipped like mad. No problems! This time though I left the over at 120 deg C and cooked for 1 1/2 hours, cooled 1 hour. The meringues were really pretty and held up really well but with a few cracks (they did not fall apart). In the centres the meringue had collapsed a bit leaving a space under the dome. However they were still light and crunchy and a lovely flavour! I have a feeling the inner collapse was due to the higher temperature rather than the essence. I think I’d still use the essence even if it did cause the collapse- it was worth it.
I still have enough aqua faba for another two batches and have plenty of essences to use! I’ll bake at a lower temperature (100 degC) next time and see.
My husband was skeptical about these meringues, but loves them and says they are less sickly than egg white meringues. This is praise indeed!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jacqui! Thanks so much for sharing the results of your experiments. So glad you like the recipe and thanks for the great review. 🙂
Darla Holland says
Hi Alison, I have a batch of these Meringues in my oven right now… Hopefully, they turn out well. So far, so good, as I see them in the oven, looking as Meringues should look. I’ve made a bunch of regular “egg Meringues”, but was anxious to try these Vegan Meringues, knowing a co-worker who is vegan & would likely enjoy the idea. However, this man is also on a “sugar-free” diet, so he uses a few granulated sugar substitutes for his desserts. He’s not diabetic; he just avoids using sugar products for health reasons. I wonder if you have used other “sugar” substitutes, in lieu of granulated sugar. If you have, I will appreciate knowing about it. Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Darla, I don’t really use sugar substitutes, just because the focus of this blog is more on the ‘delicious’ than on the ‘healthy’ side of vegan food. 🙂 But a lot of other vegan bloggers do use sugar substitutes. For these vegan meringues though the sugar is really important to uphold the structure of the meringues so I don’t think they would work with a substitute.
Mixee says
Granulated sugar free erythritol will work in other similar recipes. Try that Darla Holland.
I made these today with organic cane sugar and liquid off chickpeas I soaked from dry and cooked myself…..and WOWZA! Incredible!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Glad it worked well, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Will says
Best aquafaba recipe I’ve tried so far!
Alison Andrews says
Yay! Thanks Will! 🙂
Alex says
Okay so previaouly when beating eggs or cream, I’ve done it by hand. I don’t own a mixer…
Lots of hard work but it works…
Any chance I can do these by hand too???
Alison Andrews says
I don’t think so! I mean I haven’t tried so can’t say for sure, but I really don’t think so. The thing is of course it’s not egg whites, it beats at high speed for a good few minutes, I just don’t think that can be replicated by hand no matter how strong your arm or determined you are. 🙂
Cynthia Nolder says
I know you can whisk egg whites by hand, cause I’ve done it, but it takes awhile!
Louise says
This recipe is UNREAL, they came out so well. I thought I’d hecked them up at first because they came out sticky and gluey but an extra hour in the oven and they were fluffy and crispy and mind-blowingly good. I just started another batch with different flavors, so excited!
Alison Andrews says
So glad it worked out! 🙂
Cynthia Nolder says
Greetings-I have seen aguafaba whipped up before in a photo, and was wondering if the chickpea taste can be disguised enough that it could be used for a non-dairy whipped cream substitute, as in whipped coconut milk. Thanks in advance
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cynthia, I don’t think so sadly. Even for these meringues, the taste of chickpeas is very much there before they bake – even with the whipping and the sugar and the vanilla, once baked however the meringues don’t have any chickpea taste, thankfully. 🙂
Sabine says
I made aquafaba meringues yesterday and was so disappointed. The chickpea taste definitely did not disappear after baking in my batch. On the contrary, it intensified. I wonder what I did wrong :-/
Maybe I have to try with a stronger flavour like peppermint and see how that fares.
Have you ever experienced the chickpea taste not disappearing?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Sabine, I have no idea why that happened! Definitely disappointing and that is too weird, it has always disappeared completely for me.
michelle says
My first batch tasted a little bean-y as well. I added a little extra vanilla extract to my 2nd batch and it was improved. I also mixed in a little almond extract and it was good!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks for sharing Michelle!
Rel says
Made these tonight with my son and he couldn’t stop licking the batter! He loved it! I had my aquafaba refrigerated and then I put the batter in the fridge in the piping bag since I needed my oven. Piping was a cinch and there might not be any left in the morning 😉 one thing I didn’t love was that it took a WHILE to get stiff, but that’s just the difference between egg whites and chick pea water I guess.
Thanks for the tips and recipe! (I also didn’t use any cream of tartar so maybe that contributed to the time)
Alison Andrews says
So glad you liked the recipe! Yes, I think the cream of tartar might really help in speeding it up, thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review! 🙂
Kaylene says
Perfect thank you and makes a lot. Now to stop eating them!!
Just a note based on a lot of feedback above make sure the liquid is cold.
I drained the liquid and set aside in the fridge a few days before as I made chickpea patties with the chickpeas but planned to do meringues for the weekend take a plate event.
Cold liquid works better.
Still wondering if I could use the same recipe to make a roulade. Must try x
Leslie says
Have you tried adding cocao powder to these?
Alison Andrews says
I have not. I’ve seen other recipes that have done it though so it’s definitely possible. All the best! 🙂
Ciara says
I put mine in the oven and they disappeared… think I used too much chickpea water and they melted.. will try it again!
Camille Baker says
Looked great going into the oven but just fell flat in the oven – what did I do wrong?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Camille, sorry to hear! Did you by any chance open the oven at any stage? It is super crucial that once they go in the oven doesn’t open again until an hour and 45 minutes later. So they bake for 45 minutes (it’s also crucial that the oven temperature be correct and not too hot) and then they sit in the oven for another hour after that and if you open the oven at any point during this hour and 45 minutes it will cause them to flop. There is a troubleshooting guide that I found helpful and linked in the post, but I’ll link it here again. I used a slightly different baking method, but I still find this tutorial helpful, it might have some insights into what might’ve gone wrong. All the best!
Camille Baker says
HI Alison
No didn’t do that – and I made another batch later using a different recipe with no Cream of Tartar and no fan in the oven – and still the same flop outcome. Perhaps too much aquafaba and using a hand beater instead of an electric? Maybe I just can’t get the stiffness without an electric and need to go out an buy one?
Thanks for the tutorial I’ll use it, I really want this to work as I loved meringue before I was vegan and really miss it, plus its a challenge I want to crack.
Camille Baker says
Thanks Alison – nope didn’t open the oven – I think I just couldn’t whip it well enough as I didn’t have an electric beater – which I’ve now purchased. I will try again and see what happens – 4th times the charm?
John Smith says
How did it go for you this time?
Tammy says
Hi, have you used the meringue on lemon pie, for example? Just wondering if it would work the same as a topping on the pie, baked 🙂
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t yet, but it’s definitely something I plan to try soon! 🙂
Renee says
I just made these and they came out perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Alison Andrews says
Fabulous Renee! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Anna Andrews says
Truly inspirational!
Diana Schuster says
Will definitely try this, thank you! I’ve tried to do meringues before and they just turn into liquid inside the oven 🙁
Alison Andrews says
Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Rebecca says
These look great!! Can you substitute peppermint extract instead of vanilla for a different flavor??
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried that but I would imagine so, and that’s a great idea! 🙂